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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Ontario's government wants to change election laws to make sure no one named Ford becomes mayor of Toronto again

When politicians hold a public consultation, the whole thing is
usually a pantomime with as pre-determined an outcome as the duel at the end of
Hamlet.

They will listen to a variety of views,
then cherry-pick the opinions they receive which coincide with their pre-existing
plans as "proof" of public support, while discarding or glossing over
all the others. It's all a huge waste of public resources and funds so that
your political leaders can try to justify lying to you about having
"listened to the will of the people."

The only way of genuinely doing a public
consultation is to hold a referendum, so that there can then be no dispute
about what the voting public really wants.

We had a referendum in Ontario about
proportional representation, and the public resoundingly rejected it in favor
of our traditional first-past-the post system.

When Rob Ford was elected mayor of Toronto
by a substantial plurality in 2010, there were a lot of very angry people in
the media and in downtown, leftist circles who wereapoplectic
with ragethat
they were living in a city whose chief magistratewas
their polar opposite. They were so infuriated by the temerity of the
unwashed masses who exercised their democratic rights to elect someone they
considered so "unprogressive,"
that they set about trying to change the rules of democracy to prevent such an 'uncouth'
person from ever being elected again.
The lackluster performance by Ford's successor, John Tory, and the solid
base that Rob Ford and his brother Doug have among Toronto's suburban voters,
means that such an eventuality is a real possibility.

So with the eager cooperation of Ontario
Premier Kathleen Wynne, the province commenced the process of changing the
Municipal Elections Act to allow cities to have ranked ballots.

That means instead of just choosing one
candidate, with the person who gets the most votes being the winner, voters
would get to rank their first, second, and third choices with points being
allocated on the basis of where they ranked. So very conceivably, a candidate
who was not the first choice of a plurality of voters could end up elected.

One of the supposed benefits to ranked
ballots that the provincial government is touting is that it would necessitate
candidates trying to appeal to their rivals' support bases and thus reduce
negative campaigning. In other words, municipal candidates, who as it stands
are reluctant to be forthright and honest, will be incentivized to be even more
vague and duplicitous about their policies in order to offend the fewest
possible voters.

While this type of move is unsurprising,
coming from the most corrupt and incompetent provincial government in Canada,
it's even less surprising that it has substantial support from Toronto City
Council. If there are more than five people in that esteemed body who aren't
rotten to the core, I'd be amazed.

The most telling aspect of the changes the
provincial government is proposing for municipal elections is the fact thatthey are not proposing them for the way
provincial legislators are elected.

People wishing to participate in the
government's survey on changes to the Municipal Election Act have until July 27
to do so atTHIS LINK.

Unfortunately she (McWynnety) will get her way due to the very pro left mainstream media who will not think of this as a big deal and will report this change as positive.Any idea to further alienate the conservative base will be brought up and implemented to strengthen their liberal spending waste for their crony friends. Toronto Councillors are mostly leftists and with this change they will most certainly be all leftists after voting day.